faith – Nickcarnes.com

December 16, 2020December 16, 2020

My First 40 Years

Today, is my 40th Birthday, which means I have actually completed 40 years of life. I was thinking the other day about some of the things I’ve learned so far, or some of the things I have grown to appreciate, so I thought I’d share some of them here with you.

Jesus is King. My life belongs to Him.
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone. Don’t allow people to trap you in legalism or in performance based religion.
My wife and children are the greatest earthly treasures God has ever given to me. I am a wealthy man because of them.
You must be friendly in order to have friends, but just because someone is friendly doesn’t mean they are your friend.
Actions DO speak louder than words. Show me, don’t just tell me.
The end goal is worth the hard work: I can only expect to receive what I put into something whether relationships, career, knowledge, etc.
Be who God created you to be. Don’t be a cheap imitation of someone else.
People will hurt you, but Jesus never leaves or forsakes you.
Forgive quickly. Forgive frequently. Forgive indiscriminately. Extend radical grace.
Always do the right thing, even when it doesn’t make sense or immediately benefit you. Both blessing and consequence are typically delayed.
Always remain teachable.
Find a mentor. Find a coach.
Don’t allow anyone to hold you back, not even yourself.
Not everyone will believe in you. That’s okay. You keep believing, and keep trusting the God who you belong to.
Family is your greatest priority. Family is your greatest ministry.
You won’t ever regret being generous and giving sacrificially.
True love is revealed in how you care for people who can’t repay you.
True character is revealed by what you do when no one else is watching.
Self-Righteousness is unappealing. It’s equally as unrighteous as the sinner you might look down on.
Every day is a gift. Not everyone has lived to 40. Not everyone is as physically able as God has allowed me to be.
It’s an undeserved blessing to live in the home God gave my family. I never take it for granted and remember it was given to us in His perfect timing. One month later, we couldn’t have afforded it. Not everyone has a roof over their head, A/C & Heat, a comfortable bed, clothes, or a pantry full of food. I am better off than my parents were when I was a kid.
God is sovereign.
God repays evil. You don’t have to.
You don’t need a lot of friends. One or two good ones will do.
Dream big.
Take risks.
Failure isn’t final. Dream big again. Take even more risks.
Choose to look for the positive in every situation.
Negativity is a poison to your soul and pushes people away.
God’s Word is absolute truth and will never lead you wrong.
Find a great spouse and fight for the success of your marriage.
Be honest.
Talk to God. He is present and He hears you.
“Keep it Kind.” – Kimberly Mullins. You can’t control other people, but you can choose to be kind.
I appreciate the Christian home and foundation given to me by my parents.
Don’t take people for granted, they won’t always be with you.
You are entitled to nothing. No one owes you anything.
As a Christian, remember what you owe God and how He saved you from it. Perspective changes our attitude.
Some things are worth fighting for, some are worth dying for.
I am saved to live for God’s Kingdom, not my own kingdom.
Our measure of success is obedience – Shane Padgett
Don’t take yourself so seriously.
There is always more to learn….

Join the Conversation: What are some valuable lessons you’ve learned in your own?

February 11, 2013

Monday Rewind

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sermon Series: Life. Money. Hope.

Sermon Title: “Money Talks”

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-21; Genesis 4:1-7

The Biblical truths in week 1’s sermon must be grasped in order to fully apply the rest of the messages we will hear from Dave Ramsey in the next three weeks.

The way we manage money COMMUNICATES our inward value system

Jesus, has a perfect record as a financial adviser
Matthew 6:19 – Jesus advises that the foolish way to invest our money is on earthly things. Everything on earth has an expiration date; it breaks down, devalues and you can’t take it with you to Heaven.
Matthew 6:20 – Jesus advises that the wisest way to invest our money is in heavenly things; in advancing the Kingdom of God through the gospel. Heavenly things are eternal and will never expire

A. Our financial investments communicate what’s most IMPORTANT to us

Matthew 6:21“Wherever your treasure (money) is (Earthly Investments or Heavenly Investments), there the desires of your heart (what’s important to you) will also be.”

(Gen 4:1-2) Adam and Eve are blessed by God with two sons, Cain and Abel
(Gen 4:2) Cain and Abel both grew up and took on jobs; Cain and farmer and Abel a shepherd
(Gen 4:3-4) At harvest (payday) both Cain & Abel brought a gift (offering) to the Lord out of the product of their labors (paycheck)
Gen 4:3) Cain brought SOME of his crops to the Lord as an offering
Gen 4:4) Abel brought the FIRST and the BEST of his flock as an offering

Cain’s gift of just some of his crops as an offering to the Lord reveals that he put little thought and little heart into his gift

People who just give some of their resources back to God don’t have a GIVING problem; they have a WORSHIP problem.

The root of every sin is a worship problem.

Abel’s offering was an offering rooted in his worship of God. It required effort and a lot of thought.

Abel’s offering of the first and the best of his flock required great faith on Abel’s part. He did not know what the rest of his flock would produce after his offering; this required total reliance on God.
When we tithe and give God the first and the best of the resources he has blessed us with, we should do so in worship of God and in faith, trusting that he will provide everything we need with the remaining 90%

Hebrews 11:4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did [read rest of verse]

TITHING has nothing to do with rules and everything to do with FAITH

Notice: God did not take issue with how Cain & Abel used their remaining resources, it was the offering that he accepted or rejected because it was this offering that revealed the condition of their heart and the condition of their worship.
Cain did not have a giving problem…he had a worship problem
If you are not giving God your first and your best, you don’t have a giving problem…you have a worship problem, too.

(Gen. 4:4-7) “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.” – When we are out of line in our worship of God it opens us up to being controlled and overtaken by other sin.

Cain was eventually overtaken and controlled by sin; he murdered his brother Abel.
Cain’s sin began when he worshiped the creation of God over God, who created all things.
Our sin begins with the same improper worship of God.

Practical Take-Home Truths:

Earthly INVESTMENTS will not survive; heavenly investments last FOREVER

An HONEST inventory of how I manage my money will reveal what I value most in life

God deserves my FIRST and my BEST not just SOME and the REST

Giving my first and best involves: WORSHIP, FAITH and OBEDIENCE

My mismanagement of God’s resources is not a GIVING problem; it’s a WORSHIP problem

My giving PROTECTS my heart from being overtaken by sin

June 7, 2010June 7, 2010

What Lion Do You Need to Chase?

I absolutely loved this message by Craig Groeschel that we at New Passion opened our One Prayer series with this past Sunday. It’s called “Unstoppable Courage” and it hits home because I have some friends right now who are staring some Lions in the face and they are either going to have to decide to chase the Lion and kill it, or allow the Lion to destroy them. I pray they have their eyes opened to how big their God is:

November 12, 2009November 12, 2009

No Risk…No Reward

One of our core values at New Passion is to Embrace Faith that’s Bigger Than Ourselves. That statement would sound really cool, even if we chose not to live by it, but ever since I committed to following what I felt God was calling me to do in starting New Passion Church, that has been a motto of my life and our ministry. I believe that Christ has called us on a faith journey where we must always be reliant on him and his strength. I want New Passion to be the kind of church that has nothing to loose and everything to gain. I want us to be a church that is willing to take unimaginable risks, because without risk, there is no reward.

New Passion did not start as a “daughter” church of another church. No one came to me and said, “Nick. we desire to start a new church, would you be the planter for that church?” I only had what I knew to be God’s voice calling me out. We had no money, no equipment, nothing, but my family and a friend who agreed to be our CFO for legal reasons. A couple of months in we started asking some people to consider taking this journey with us and we had some agree, while others could not make the commitment. We were at a place where it would have been easy to declare that I was wrong and things were just not working out and I could have pulled the plug and looked for a staff position somewhere, but I held on. Some weeks later, I got a call from a friend who had planted a church a year earlier than us and he wanted to meet. When we sat down he said that his church, being small could not do a lot to help us, but they wanted to do anything they could, so they offered us a loan to help get things off the ground. I went and spoke to my CFO and my wife and a few people I trust (like my dad).

I’ve always heard DO NOT get a loan to start a church. Well, at the time, our sponsoring church did not know what they would do to help us financially and we did not have any other churches coming along side us. Here was one of my biggest crossroads as a new pastor. The loan was going to be interest free and we only had to pay back 10% of our offerings each month, with no deadline on paying the money off, but at the time, we were a small launch team with no guarantees even on a meeting place. This was my opportunity to embrace faith that was bigger than myself, or to look for a solution that I could wrap my arms around and see the outcome for. I don’t even think the few people on our team that was aware of the loan fully supported it, but I had to make the decision at this juncture of our church, and I signed the papers. Up to this point we’ve made two payments, until yesterday…

A couple of friends who own a business came to me and said that they made a commitment to see lives changed through their business, and once they got to a place where they could increase what they were already doing, they were going to find ways to impact the Kingdom. I got a call from one of them yesterday to see if I could meet them somewhere, so we decided to grab a quick lunch together. We sat down and they shared their heart with me about their desire to be used by God and then handed me an envelope. I held it and they shared some more and then asked me to open the envelope. I looked at them and they were smiling as big as a child on Christmas morning. They were so excited at the opportunity they had to make an impact in people’s lives. I looked at the check, and it was for the exact amount that we had borrowed from the local church. I was blown away and a little in shock!

There is NO way we would be where we are today as a church had we not taken a risk up front and embraced a faith that was huge at the time by taking that loan. I am excited to say that we are now debt free (as of next week when they get the final check) and 10% of our budget is freed up to do more ministry! But we are not going to get comfortable. That small risk was only to prepare us for bigger risks that I know lie ahead of us.

Join the Conversation…When have you had to take a risk in your life and saw how big God is through it?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

September 28, 2009September 28, 2009

Embracing Faith Bigger Than Ourselves

One of the biggest steps of faith I’ve ever taken was to start New Passion Church. Since last November when I knew this was the leading of the Lord and that if I did not follow I’d be disobedient, I am continually reminded that this church and this whole movement of Christ known as the church is so much bigger than I am.

I’ve blogged before how it would be nice at times to have a flashlight so I could simply see what lies ahead of me. How will we get the money to afford this project? How will we have enough people to serve in this environment? Will people even show up? I type in the context of New Passion Church because it’s the most recent BIG faith act I’ve embraced, so everyday I’m living in the reality of that act. There have been times my personal life that my questions consist of ‘how are we going to pay for this bill?’ or ‘will this relationship ever be mended?’ – I believe that God always calls us to a faith that’s bigger than ourselves. I truly believe if we can wrap our arms around it or if we can control it, the journey that we are on or the decision that we are making is not of God. That’s why the E in our HEART is that we value Embracing Faith Bigger than Ourselves.

We looked at the story of Samuel, Saul, and Jonathan from 1 Samuel chapters 9-14 yesterday and from the scripture we saw how God always calls us to a Faith that #1 is Bigger than Ourselves #2 that Requires our complete Reliance on God and #3 that always completes God’s plan. – The Christian journey is a faith life, it is full of uncertainty. You cannot have faith without uncertainty…that’s why we don’t get the flashlight. Instead he gives us a blindfold.

Last week, we talked about how Religion allows us to set obtainable goals that we can reach on our own, therefore making us feel spiritual. If we can reach it on our own, we have no need for faith or a reliance on Jesus. Hebrews 11:6 say’s it is “impossible to please God without faith.”

Join the Conversation…Are you trying to control the outcome of your situation? Or Are you reaching out and embracing a faith that’s bigger than yourself?